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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

IS BURGOS OUT?

According to several sources familiar with Hartford City Hall, embattled Human Resources Director Henry Burgos is expected to resign today.

No confirmation is readily available from the Bronin Administration, but standby for more details
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Search the blog archives  for more information on Burgos's tenure. Despite Burgos's comments that he was "protected" and couldn't be let go, that apparently may not be the case

BRADY'S RUN ABOUT TO END ( AND I DON'T MEAN TOM BRADY)

According to sources, Hartford's Interim Fire Chief's tenure will probably be one of the shortest in Hartford history.

Scott Brady named acting interim Chief  took over the reigns approximately 2 weeks ago after former Chief Carlos Huertas was shown the door at the start of a new Mayoral term began.

Brady's appointment was somewhat unusual due to the fact that Brady, according to numerous sources within HFD, was campaigning heavily for the new Mayor's opponent Pedro Segarra.  Brady , again according to sources, was visiting firehouses and speaking with firefighters advising them not to support Bronin, that Segarra was much more favorable to their upcoming contract negotiations. Apparently supporting Segarra was to benefit the firefighters Union.

In the end, apparently, everything works out for the best . Brady is not on the short list to be named as Assistant Chief under the incoming new Chief Reginald Freeman. At least one of the Assistant spots has been filled by HFD retiree Frank Costello. Costello is reported to be starting next Monday as Assistant Chief , at the same time Freeman takes over. Costello retired as a Deputy Chief of Training  for the fire Department.

The only fly in the ointment is a Hartford Ordinance that took effect January1, 2016. Any new hire or new appointment  that is a retiree will have their salary capped at the amount of the annual base salary minus the amount of their pension benefit, provided however that the annual compensation shall not be less than 50% of the annual base salary.

So much for double dipping being profitable anymore.

Here is the ordinance and its wording below. The pertinent part is on page 2, highlighted.(I guess Ken Kennedy did do at least one thing worthwhile in 14 years)

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

GOOD NEWS FROM THE HARTFORD FIRE DEPARTMENT

Word today is that Jason Martinez, the Hartford Firefighter who received severe burns in a structure fire over a year ago, has recovered enough from his injuries to return to work.

Martinez is undergoing refresher training classes today and will report back to his firehouse for his shift at 5:00PM today .

Best of Luck Jason on your continued recovery and may you and all of Hartford's first responders stay safe.

Monday, January 25, 2016

FINALLY , A PASSING GRADE FOR HARTFORD'S PLOWING EFFORTS

Hartford has traditionally been a snowplowing disaster.. It was so bad that during a Mayoral debate last summer , former Mayor Pedro Segarra blamed Hartford's dismal efforts on our suburban neighbors coming into Hartford and sweeping snow off their cars, blocking Hartford's streets.

Now I know Saturday's storm was small by many standards, but there was  so much different in the DPW efforts to clear Hartford's streets. I usually drive around once the snow stops to see what is going on in the City. I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of every street I drove down Sunday.

One of the big barometers I gauge by is how the streets are open. Typically, the streets are rarely plowed "curb to curb" meaning that the right lanes are usually left with a pile of snow taking up half of the travel lane Farmington Avenue is usually choked down to one open lane in each direction, bringing rush hour traffic to an impassable mess. Sunday morning the street  was open wide and the curbs were visible on  each side
Farmington Avenue in front of Saint Joseph's Cathedral, plowed curb to curb
 
New Park Avenue and just about every other street I drove down was plowed well and passable. For the first time I can recall, I couldn't tell where Hartford ended and West Hartford began. Usually I can tell when I have crossed into west Hartford because the plowing of their streets are pristine
New Park Avenue near Park Street looking South,. you can actually see the road
 
Therre just seemed to be a lot more co-ordination this time in the plowing efforts. It was comical though the numerous instructions being given to plow drivers over the DPW radio to plow Elm Street and be sure to put "plenty of material" down so that when the Mayor would look out the window of his home, he would see the results of their efforts. It might surprise them to know that I doubt the Mayor was sitting at home monitoring their efforts I think he was most likely out viewing their efforts first hand from every corner of the City. Its called management
 
I hope these efforts were not a one time occurrence and the next storm will show we do know how to do it right. We all have frequently bashed the DPW efforts over snow removal, but I think it is also important to let them know we appreciate it when they do it right.
 

DUPED AGAIN

 
Columbus and State Street intersection, The former Channel 3 "Broadcast House" site. Now a vacant lot for several years
Photo from the Hartford Courant article below
 
 
When are we going to stop falling for every developer that walks through the doors at City Hall with a fancy set of artists rendering

The Hartford Courant story below is about a property and its delusional development that I have written about here a few times previously. You can read the Courants story here :http://www.courant.com/real-estate/property-line/hc-constitution-plaza-new-tower-20160125-story.html

Maybe we could at least have local artists design a "Welcome to Hartford " mural for the exposed walls of the vacant lot

Saturday, January 23, 2016

LUKE'S LEMONADE STAND


It is often said that when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Luke Bronin ha been working tirelessly to make lemonade out of the truckload of lemons that Pedro Segarra left behind for him in the Mayor's Office when he took over January 1st..

It is unfortunate that in the first two weeks into his new term as Mayor, Luke Bronin had to focus on saving a team instead of building his own team. By most accounts, Luke tackled the problem head on  and brought the problem to a successful resolution, at least for the immediate future I know it took a lot of work and many people working together. If it shows anything at all, I think it shows that unlike his predecessor who was always right, (or at least Pedro thought so), Bronin listened to advice and came up with a workable solution.

Is it a solution that has satisfied everyone? Of course not. But what were the alternatives? Most likely  lengthy, prolonged and expensive litigation if any other course was taken. To those still challenging the Stadium, what would you propose as an alternative. And what  would the costs of those alternatives be just in attorney fees and potential legal settlements?Probably much more than the estimated $5million share for taxpayers now.  Litigation that would not be quick and would drag on for  years.

All that time , Hartford would still be shouldering the costs of the debt on the project. There was no way we could just walk away. It was a bad , poorly conceived plan from the start, but at this point we are stuck with it.

As Mayor Bronin clearly stated, twice, during his announcement, this was not a "Mission Accomplished" chest thumping moment for Hartford. This was making the best of a bad situation without making it worse. Despite the "Done Deal" announced by Pedro Segarra, this deal was and is far from done.

The stadium deal needs strong , professional supervision to keep this project on track . Supervision that actually understands large scale Construction management and people that are not afraid to ask questions and keep the public informed. Sitting behind a dais once a month and giving defensive sound bites to the media is not suitable management.  The taxpayers of Hartford need to be reassured that someone is watching their backs on this project.

That clearly has not happened to this point and to maintain the public trust and confidence it needs to happen now, and soon.If the Stadium Authority members will not voluntarily resign, the Council needs to move to rescind their appointments

In the meantime, hopefully Mayor Bronin can shut down the lemonade stand and start focusing on the necessary business at hand. Somehow, I think the lemons will keep coming as more of the Segarra years are unraveled.